A low creeper, with slender, glabrous stems. Leaves oblong or narrowly obovate, 11⁄2 to 3 in. long, about one-third as wide; glabrous above, glaucous and glabrous or slightly downy beneath, very shortly stalked. The upper pair or pairs of leaves are united into a round or oblong disk, in the axils of which the stalkless flowers are borne. Corolla yellow, 3⁄4 to 1 in. long, glabrous outside, hairy within.
Native of Yunnan; discovered by Delavay. It is allied to the American L. dioica. Probably not in cultivation.
var. tenuis Rehd. – A smaller-leaved form found by Henry at Mengtze in Yunnan, inhabiting rocky mountains up to 6,000 to 7,000 ft. Corolla 3⁄4 in. long, white changing to yellow. It was introduced in 1901 by Wilson to the Coombe Wood nursery.
This species should not be confused with L. nitida ‘Yunnan’, for which the name L. yunnanensis has erroneously been used.